


I am not good at making people like me, and you are terrible at loving people

by EvilInTheNight



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 16:56:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5256293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilInTheNight/pseuds/EvilInTheNight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because I am that incapable to make up a title, I just used the summary as the title.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I am not good at making people like me, and you are terrible at loving people

**Author's Note:**

> Yesssss finally a new piece of Clietro/Quint/Hawksilver work.  
> I have been busy but at the same time having so many ideas popping up.  
> Have a feeling that I wouldn't be able to complete all of them before Captain America 3.  
> ALERT: A LOT OF DRAMA AND OOC. I KNOW. I don't know what was wrong with me back then, so just treat this as a cheesy little fic, have fun, and feel free to tell me what you think I should do to improve it.

Clint doesn’t like Pietro. Or worse, loathes him.

It isn’t just Pietro overthinking things. It is a well-known fact among the Avengers. They just never say it out loud.

 

Pietro is cocky, yes, but not exactly in a bad way. He has a sense of humor, and that has won over every one of them, including the two “most boring” Avengers, Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner. Even Tony Stark would say “the older Maximoff twin is almost as charming as me”, which is his idea of a complement.

 

Clint avoids sitting next to Pietro. He barely talks to him, and they are not even on first name basis. Always “Maximoff, leave me alone”, or “Shut up, Maximoff”. People would think they should be rather close, considered that Pietro nearly died to save Clint Barton in the Battle of Sokovia. Seems like the love is never returned.

 

The Avengers all know it isn’t Pietro’s fault that Clint is always grumpy around him, but Pietro blames himself for it. He tries to joke around Clint, but the old man never laughs.

Soon Pietro finds it difficult to hang around Clint. The tension is killing him, and he doesn’t think he has done anything to deserve this. One morning he sees Clint waiting by the coffee machine. Clint has obviously seen him, and he is struggling between leaving his coffee or staying and stand the annoying Maximoff twin. This angers Pietro a little bit, but at the same time his heart aches as if someone has tugged it. He doesn’t know what has he done to deserve this.

 _Man up,_ Pietro says to himself, _and ask for an explanation._

 

“I’m not good at making people like me.” Pietro says to Clint, who is impatiently waiting for the coffee machine to finish its job. He clearly hates Pietro’s presence here.

“Oh, fuck off. They all adore you. How many magazines have asked you to shoot a cover with them in this month? Twelve?” Clint says. _Stop it, let me go back to my work,_ he thinks as he grabs his coffee and walks away.

“But not you.” Pietro says. “I can’t read minds, but it isn’t hard to tell. You don’t like me.”

 

“Isn’t it enough for every other Avenger falling head over heels for you?” Clint says, “And yes, I don’t like you. I don’t want to pretend that I do.”

“You are…you are not still angry for what I did in Sokovia, right?” He looks almost desperate, and Clint can’t stand the way he looks, with longing in his eyes. So he looks down, fixing his gaze on his mug, because he knows he can’t look the kid in his eyes. It is hard enough to say it out loud already.

 

The kid has no idea. Clint is not angry for the part where they were enemies. He doesn’t blame Pietro for protecting his sister, doesn’t blame him for hating Stark.  He is angry for Pietro nearly dying for him.

“No.” _He is dangerous for Pietro. He knows it._

“Then give me a reason why you don’t like me.” Pietro grabs his wrist. The skin contact scares Clint. He looks up and pulls his hand away. Pietro notices it, and immediately let go.

“A terrible first impression, maybe. Look, why don’t you go spend your time with the people who adore you?” Clint says. _Thanks god, his coffee is ready._ He fills his cup up as he speaks, taking in the smell of the coffee and distracting himself for a moment.

 

“I just want you to like me, is it that difficult?” Pietro almost yells. His whole body is trembling, from anger and also _something else_ , something he could never say it out loud to Clint.

Clint just walks away without saying a word.

 

As soon as Clint walks out of his sight, Pietro collapses on the ground and cries.

_No, Clint, don’t leave, please._

_I don’t just want you to like me, Clint. I want more, and it hurts so much because you give so little._

 

“Eavesdropping isn’t a good habit, Tony.” Natasha whispers as she stands beside Tony.

“One minute twenty seconds.” He says as he looks at his watch. “That’s a new record. The longest conversation they’ve ever had. And yes, the awkward silence is included.”

 

= = = =

 

Natasha knows it is Clint when he knocks on her door.

“Let me guess, you said something stupid to the kid again.” She says. Clint nods, and she let him in.

“Can’t you just be nice to Pietro? I know you have your reasons to have your walls up, but the kid is breaking down. You think you are keeping him safe but you are ruining him.”

Natasha gives him a glass of Vodka, and they turn on the TV, but they are not really watching it. This has been happening for a while now, ever since the Battle of Sokovia Clint has spent most of his evenings in Natasha’s room, drinking, and when he’s drunk enough he will spill _everything_ , everything that he would never tell the Maximoff kid.

Clint leans against Natasha for support. She’s one of the strongest women he knows, and she handles a relationship a thousand times better than him. Look at how happy she is with Bruce now, and two months ago Bruce believed he would never be able to find someone that will be there for him.

“I am divorced, my wife is taking care of my two kids.” Clint says. “I not exactly the kind of guy you want to be in a relationship with. Especially when you are a 17 year- old boy who’s new to relationships.”

“One relationship doesn’t define you.” Natasha says. “Plus, you and Laura are still friends.”

“Before Laura left me she told me I don’t know how to love. I thought I love her, and as she left I realized I never really know how to love her. She was right, Natasha. I was never a good husband.” Clint says. “I never spent enough time with her and the kids. I thought all I need is to keep them safe, but they need more than that.”

“And you are just going to repeat the same mistake, pushing Pietro away so that he will be safe from you?” Natasha laughs at her friend. “Can’t you see that’s exactly what’s killing him?”

“Laura would say I shouldn’t fuck up someone else’s life before I really know how to love someone.” Clint says.

“Laura would want you to be able to love someone. She never gives up on you, Clint. Even though she is aware that you don’t love her like you both believed, she is still your friend. If she knew Pietro she would say he’s good for you.”

“Let’s not talk about this now.” Clint mutters.

A few hours later, ten or twenty more shots of Vodka, Clint is laughing with tears on his face, and he is talking a lot—too much—being too honest.

“See, Pietro, we are such a fucked up pair. You are not good at making people like you. I’m not good at loving people.”

 

= = = =

 

Unlike Clint going to Natasha’s, it is Wanda who knocks Pietro’s door. When her brother doesn’t open the door she has to use her magic to open the lock. She founds Pietro curling up by the window, with a blanket draping around his shoulders.

“Oh, Pietro,” She sighs, sitting down beside him. “You have to be stronger than that. He isn’t easy to love.”

“He is incapable of love.” Pietro says, half laughing, half crying. “I’m sick of this, Wanda. Doing everything I can and getting shitty responds.”

“But you will keep trying, right?” Wanda says.

“Why should I, when he clearly doesn’t want me?” Pietro answers. He clenches his fist tight as he speaks of the archer. The _cold hearted_ , or worse, _heartless_ archer who is completely blind towards his suffering. Wanda kneels beside Pietro and wraps her arms around her brother.

 

“He loves you, Pietro. He just couldn’t tell you. Because he knows how crazy people can be when they are in love. You would die for him when you weren’t even truly in love with him. I can’t believe what you will do when your love is returned.”

“I would do anything to make him believe.” Pietro snuggles close with his sister. Wanda runs her fingers through her brother’s hair. Sometimes they forget who the older twin is.

That’s exactly what he’s afraid of, Wanda thinks, but she doesn’t say it out loud.

 

= = = =

 

He doesn’t speak to Clint in the following few days, and the next time they talk, they were alone in the living area.

“You cannot stop me.” Pietro says with determination, and Clint looks up, confused.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Maximoff.”

“You cannot stop me from doing it, Clint. I will jump in front of you every time. You can try to push me away but I will be faster. You will think I am only doing this because I am fast enough and I can get away alive, but one day you will know that I am risking my life every time for you. I have no idea if I could survive this time, or next time. All I know is as long as I’m here you won’t be the one who dies. And maybe if I really die in front of you one day you will realize I mean it all this time.”

 

Surprisingly, Clint doesn’t retort immediately. He waits, and when he speaks there’s not a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“I believe you. That’s why this cannot happen. What if I get you killed again?”

“Clint…” Pietro starts, but doesn’t know how to end. At first it sounds like a shitty excuse, but Clint is 100% right. Part of him is happy that Clint actually cares about his life, and part of him knows he can’t make Clint takes this responsibility.

“It doesn’t matter.” Pietro says. “It doesn’t matter, Clint. I…I love _you_.”

He leans in and kisses the archer.

 

It is the moment his lips touch Clint’s Pietro realizes he doesn’t know how to kiss. He sucks the older man’s lower lip, thrusting his tongue in, and he must have took Clint by surprise because Clint parts his mouth and grants him entrance. It is a raw kiss, their teeth crash together too many times, and Pietro presses Clint’s head close to his, wishing that Clint would never leave.

 

It doesn’t last as long as Pietro wishes for. For Clint, it’s just a moment of weakness and when he regains control, he pushes Pietro away, looking at the boy with disbelief in his eyes, and left. Pietro doesn’t follow Clint, doe n’t reason with him, doesn’t even try to make him stay.

He wipes the single tear on his face.

And acceptes his defeat.

 

= = = =

 

Pietro lies in bed and stares at the ceiling. His hand reaches out unconsciously to touch his lips, remembering how Clint’s lips felt against his own.

_That was the first time, and the last time, too._

He loves him. Pietro has never been surer about that in his life.

But he also knows it is impossible for Clint to love him back.

 _It is okay,_ he thinks, _he wins, and I lost._

 

Someone opens his door. First Pietro think it is his sister, checking on him.

But it is a man who walks in.

He bites his tongue to stop himself from screaming because he recognizes the man even though he's in such dim light.

 

Clint stands by Pietro’s bed, and the boy shut his eyes, pretending that he is asleep.

“I’m sorry. I know how it feels, Pietro. Not having your love returned. I’m sorry, I love you, I’m sorry.” Clint is apologizing again and again. And then he sits beside Pietro’s bed, eventually lying down and pulls the boy close to him.

 

Pietro dies a little at Clint’s words. The warmth radiating from Clint’s body, the protective way he puts his arms around Pietro, and his lips that are pressed against his neck. A drop of tear falls from the corner of his eyes.

He still has to work hard to really get Clint to open up to him, but yeah, he can work with this, with Clint loving him.

 

[End]

**Author's Note:**

> I need your comments!


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